On the sixth of March, when the committee sat again, Sir C. Pole moved, that the year 1812 be substituted for the year 1807, as the time when the trade should be abolished.  This amendment produced a long debate, which was carried on by Sir C. Pole, Mr. Fuller, Hiley Addington, Rose, Gascoyne, and Bathurst on one side; and by Mr. Ward, Sir P. Francis, General Vyse, Sir T. Turton, Mr. Whitbread, Lord Henry Petty, Mr. Canning, Stanhope, Perceval, and Wilberforce on the other.  At length, on a division, there appeared to be one hundred and twenty-five against the amendment, and for it only seventeen.  The chairman then read the bill, and it was agreed that he should report it with the amendments on Monday.  The bill enacted, that no vessel should clear out for slaves from any port within the British dominions after the first of May 1807, and that no slave should be landed in the colonies after the first of March 1808.

On the sixteenth of March, on the motion of Lord Henry Petty, the question was put, that the bill be read a third time.  Mr. Hibbert, Captain Herbert, Mr. T.W.  Plomer, Mr. Windham, and Lord Castlereagh spoke against the motion.  Sir P. Francis, Mr. Lyttleton, Mr. H. Thornton, and Mr. Barham, Sheridan, and Wilberforce supported it.  After this the bill was passed without a division[A].

[Footnote A:  S. Lushington, esq.  M.P. for Yarmouth, gave his voluntary attendance and assistance to the Committee, during all these motions, and J. Bowdler, esquire, was elected a member of it.]

On Wednesday, the eighteenth, Lord Howick, accompanied by Mr. Wilberforce and others, carried the bill to the Lords.  Lord Grenville, on receiving it, moved that it should be printed, and that, if this process could be finished by Monday, it should be taken into consideration on that day.  The reason of this extraordinary haste was, that His Majesty, displeased with the introduction of the Roman-catholic officers’ bill into the Commons, had signified his intention to the members of the existing administration, that they were to be displaced.

The uneasiness, which, a few days before, had sprung up among the friends of the abolition, on the report that this event was probable, began now to show itself throughout the kingdom.  Letters were written from various parts, manifesting the greatest fear and anxiety on account of the state of the bill, and desiring answers of consolation.  Nor was this state of the mind otherwise than what might have been expected upon such an occasion; for the bill was yet to be printed—­Being an amended one, it was to be argued again in the Lords—­It was then to receive the royal assent—­All these operations implied time; and it was reported that the new ministry[A] was formed; among whom were several, who had shown a hostile disposition to the cause.

[Footnote A:  The only circumstance, which afforded comfort at this time, was that the honourable Spencer Perceval and Mr. Canning were included in it, who were warm patrons of this great measure.]